Physiology

The Fermin are one of the most grotesque abominations to ever walk Hollow, a rat the size of a small man. All whiskers teeth and claw these scurrying flighty creatures are the agents of anarchy and discord. They are nowhere near the power of a man but their numbers are great, they breed in large litters that become mature almost as soon as a rat. They are weak but fast and furious and in great numbers can overcome almost any foe. They prefer to use their small nimble bodies in hit and run maneuvers. Their fur can be brown, black grey or white. The color of the fur usually denotes their rank. Brown fermin are commoners, white are generally mages, grey are common soldiers and black are deadly thieves and assassins. The eyes of a fermin are small and beady and more often than not are red. Their claws and teeth are sharp and dangerous, perfect in hand to hand combat. They have excellent night vision and hearing, these features help them to work stealthfully.

Psychology

The Fermin are individuals but have a strong pack mentality. They are first and foremost members of their pack, they live fight and work in their pack which include Fermin of all rank commoners, mages, thieves, assassins ,soldiers and slaves. Fermin scheme against each other for the right to become leader of their pack and usually this involves careful political maneuverer to gather support and then the quick, shadowy and brutal murder of their superior. Fermin are cunning and vindictive and live to serve their pack and their creator. They are only loyal to the pack as a whole and not individual members. They like to attack when their foe is weakest usually from behind when they are sleeping or injured that is their way. There is none to little honor in the mind of Fermin just a cold cunning calculating need to succeed in their purpose no matter the cost.

Fermin Society

Fermin society is new but invariably complex. Station is important, pack leaders lead tends of thousands of Fermin under them and there are are many ranks made up for each pack. Pack's tend to have fearsome names that indicate what they do like the Shadow Claws are very heavily dominated by their assassins whereas the Whiskered Orb are dominated by their mages. The governing body of the Fermin is always the leadership of the highest ranking clan, their leader is the Grand Pack Master and takes his orders from their creator and his own Machiavellian schemes. Fermin society is therefore chaotic and brutal with constant infighting and scheming, luckily for the rest of Hollow this keeps them occupied and their numbers low.

Fermin Battle Cry: "For the Mistress!"

Fermin & Religion

Fermin worship their creator and the dark ascended. Their creator is the Lich Queen and they believe that she is “Like unto a goddess.” They serve her willingly and worship her in their shrines in their homes deep below Hollow, for only high ranking Fermin may scurry in her temple. Fermin leaders tend to be the most religious and will use their religion as a reason to attack non believers and remove the washed (believers of light dominated religion) from existence. Fermin believe that being dirty and corrupted makes you the most unholy and all fermin aspire to this.

Fermin History

Fermin are the youngest of Hollows races but their numbers increase daily. The Fermin were created in the aftermath of the uprising against the empire of Archmosia. The Lich Queen had been exiled from Vailkrin as the rebels and others occupied the province and she was robbed of corpses to use as her minions. In the filthy sewers the Lich Queen hid biding her time, plotting and scheming against the races of Hollow while she did this she watched a group of rats hunting in a pack in the sewer. The creatures were furry little packages of pure malice and she pondered what they could do on a grander scale.

In the weeks that followed the Lich Queen watched and was most pleased by their progress and began preparing a powerful spell of dark magic, when the spell was complete the pack of thirty six rats grew into a grotesque humanoid form, the Fermin were born. The Lich Queen poured her malice anger and cunning into the creatures and they become psychotically twisted and brutal. In a matter of weeks they bred more and more Fermin and soon they had the sewers of several major towns as their territory as well as many, many slaves gathered from raids on other races.

The Fermin are new but it is certain these soldiers of anarchy and evil will rise from their sewers and wage an unholy war against any sentient creature that will not bow to their will and the will of the creator. The Fermin will stop at nothing to bring the world of men to its knee's and they just might have the numbers and raw cunning to do it...